Abstract
This paper discusses Octavia Butler's 1979 novel "Kindred" within the context of feminism and racial, classed, and gendered oppressions. The main character in "Kindred", Dana, is discussed in relation to both her own time and the time of her ancestors in order to show the ways in which race, gender, and class interact to cause different forms of oppression. The paper documents some of the ways in which Dana responds to these situations through a feminist point of view.

From the Paper
""Kindred", by Octavia Butler, was written in 1979. This novel follows Dana, a twenty-six year old African-American woman living and working in Los..."

Tags:kindred, feminism, novel

Abstract
The paper examines Octavia Butler's fictional characters, her creative use of concepts of time and space travel, and the themes of control and power. The paper shows how she unveils the effects of the social construct of racism and conveys the realities of intra-racial prejudices, while also offering a persuasive perspective on the true meaning of kindred relationships.

From the Paper
"In her novel, Kindred, Octavia Butler brings new life to the American slave narrative in a unique blend of contemporary science fiction with a first-person slave narrative, depicting both modern and historical perspectives on black and white race relations. Traditional American slave narratives detail the journey and life of a slave in his or her era as the framework for their story. Octavia Butler creates her slave narrative for the contemporary reader by interlacing modern characters with realistic historical characters and utilizing unique twists of time and space travel concepts, continuing throughout the tale's entirety. The blending of such diverse and opposing characters and their respective eras establishes a distinct realism and enhances the reader's ability to relate to the characters."

Tags:kinships, relationships, slave, narratives, racism, prejudices

Abstract
This paper presents a summary and analysis of "Parable of the Sower". The paper takes a look at biblical references in Butler's sci-fi story, as well as its parallels to the modern world and where our society may be headed.

From the Paper
"Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is an ultimately hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Butler brings forth an utterly nightmarish vision of California in 2025, but one with a shockingly firm grounding in reality. Society, plagued by global warming and other detriments that Butler keeps unspecified, has collapsed. Los Angeles has devolved into walled island neighborhoods in a sea of utter chaos, (Butler, 23). Residents have been forced to themselves to keep from being overrun by hoards of homeless and starving just beyond the walls. Gangs of thugs rape, pillage and, under the influence of a drug called pyro, burn whole neighborhoods to the ground for the sheer joy of destruction. Everything we take for granted today now comes with a price. No one can be trusted. Violence is a way of life. People hear gunfire so much that [they no longer] hear it, (Butler, 440). Slavery is returning."

Tags:philosophy, religion

Abstract
This paper provides a discussion of Octavia Butler's slave narrative, "Kindred". The paper discusses how the experiences of Dana in the slave-holding South illustrate how the impact of slavery still influences race relations in contemporary society.

From the Paper
"Octavia Butler's slave narrative "Kindred" is unique in that it primarily occurs in the present with its black female protagonist, Dana, being transported several times to the slave-holding south of the early ...s. Dana lives with her white husband, Kevin, in Los Angeles in the year of the American Bicentennial celebrating freedom. This is significant because Dana's horrific experiences as a slave to her white great-grandfather many generations removed leave her with scars that are physical and psychological. As such, her journey is symbolic of..."

Tags:physical abuse, psychological abuse, marriage, violence, love, beatings, children, freedom, escape

Abstract
This paper discusses how on the surface, Octavia Butler's "Kindred", is a time-travel science fiction novel investigating a modern day female African American's experience in the pre-Civil War south. However, it contends that, underneath the surface, the novel attempts to examine the inter-personal relationships between parents and their children. It looks at how Dana, the novel's protagonist seemingly becomes the surrogate mother to the accident-prone Anglo child Rufus and how, as the novel progresses, the adept reader realizes, Dana's martial characteristics contributes to the unhealthy emotional childhood development of Rufus.

From the Paper
"Having established Dana as a strong maternal figure, Rufus demonstrates the qualities of an erring and insecure child. First, the reader learns about the quality of love that has shaped the young Rufus' psychic; "And there was Rufus, swung from his father's indifference to his mother's sugary concern" (69). Rufus the child, experiences his biological parent's paternal love as "indifference" and "sugary", which only reinforces his dependent bond with the maternal love provided by Dana. "

Tags:rufus, dana

Abstract
The paper outlines the storyline of both Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" and Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake", and discusses both works' message that through the progression of technology and science, nature is often abused and overused, causing a series of devastating consequences. The paper highlights how characters in both of the novels take no responsibility for their own actions when it comes to environmental injustices since nature is looked at as being subservient to the human race. The paper discusses how the mindless and endless consumption of materials in these two texts should serve as a warning that if society continues to function without a thought of the future, our natural resources will no longer be able to take care of our society, resulting in the complete breakdown of numerous social structures.

From the Paper
"Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, begins in the year 2025 with Lauren, a girl living in a gated community outside of Los Angeles. Due to a government on the brink of complete collapse as a result of rampant poverty and scarcity of resources, the community in which Lauren lives becomes overrun with people committed to its demise. As the wall of the neighborhood collapses, Lauren's family is murdered and she embarks on a long journey northward in order to establish a new community in which her religion, Earthseed, can flourish. Similarly themed, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake begins after the apocalypse of the earth. Jimmy, also called Snowman throughout the novel, lives among the Crakers, which are strange forms of sub-human creatures. Through frequent flashbacks and as a product of extensive genetic engineering with no regard for any of the natural world, the reader learns that creatures like pigoons, rakunks, wolvogs, and other various life forms roam uncontrolled. The majority of the novel is a flashback to the evolution of Jimmy and Crake and their attitudes, mindsets, and feelings about the ever-changing world around them. Without being checked in any way, genetic engineering has ultimately led to the complete passing of the human race."

Tags:consumption, nature, ecology, resources

Abstract
This paper is a persuasive indictment of Oankali (alien) actions in the novel "Dawn" by Octavia Butler. It addresses international relations as well as literary theory, particularly the value of conflict and emotion in forming "human-ness". .

Abstract
This paper takes a look at 'Kindred' by Octavia Butler and discusses how this modern-day slave narrative brings into sharp focus the reality that we cannot escape history. The paper further discusses how the culture of our ancestors has clearly changed, but just as we carry on the bloodlines and genetic information from our ancestors, we also carry forward the remnants of their culture.

From the Paper
"By entering into the role of a slave, Dana begins to negotiate and develop the ethic of compromise within her own head. She is perfectly aware that killing her "owner," Rufus, would bring no legal action in the modern world, nor would it likely bear any guilt on her psyche. However, she has become keenly aware from her second visit to Maryland that Rufus is not just any slave owner, he happens to be the man who will eventually father the first ancestor listed in her family tree. The repercussions of killing him would then logically lead to Dana and the rest of her family simply never coming into existence. Begrudgingly Dana accepts this knowledge and learns to survive in the same way that Alice, one of the house slaves, survives. At first Dana didn't understand how Alice could tolerate, and even express mild affection toward, Rufus after learning that Rufus had sold off three of Alice's children. Eventually Dana understands the complex relationship that all of the slaves have with Rufus through the knowledge that she must protect someone who does her harm ironically for her own protection. In the end, however, Dana comes to a full realization of the situation, and after her ancestor has been born and safely sent away from the plantation, she finally is placed in a situation where she must kill Rufus. Dana realizes that she cannot accept slavery no matter how kind or well-intentioned the slave owner is. "A slave was a slave. Anything could be done to her," Dana thinks as she sinks the knife into Rufus' side (Butler 284)."

Tags:dana, kevin, slave, alice, rufus, relationship, victim

Abstract
A comparison and discussion of two texts on slavery and its evils, "Narrative of an American Slave" by African-American slave, Frederick Douglass and "Kindred" by Octavia Butler. The paper shows how these novels show the dynamics of slavery- its horrible cost to the culture and country, and the continued efforts of people today to make sure it never happens again.

From the Paper
"One of the most famous accounts of slavery in America comes from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. Douglass was a gifted writer, and an eloquent orator who motivated and influenced numerous people, abolitionists, and politicians throughout his life on the subject of slavery and freedom."

Tags:master, freedom, illiteracy, South, Franklin, Weylin

Abstract
This paper discusses how, in recent works of historical fiction by Toni Morrison ("Beloved") and Octavia E. Butler ("Kindred"), common themes of black literature are explored. It examines how principally through circular narrative, recall of memory and the pervasive theme of human bondage, Morrison demonstrates a powerful, varied, and incisive style in the portrayal of how humanity can be stolen from those who are victimized. In comparison, it looks at how based on first hand, factual experiences researched by Butler, "Kindred" presents a unique perspective on the sacrifices that a slave had to make to secure his or her freedom. It concludes that both these works bear testimony to the profound impact that this tragic period in history has had on the black literature of today.

From the Paper
"The use of paradox is evident from the beginning of the novel as the narrator describes the house at 124 Bluestone Road as being "Full of a baby's venom" (Morrison 3), in direct contradiction to the usual attribute of innocence associated with an infant. As the plot develops, the audience begins to understand the true meaning of this phrase in regard to the murder of the baby, Beloved, by its mother, Sethe. Rather than condemning her child to a morbid life filled with the torment of slavery, Sethe is driven to this heinous act in the belief that she will give her child a better alternative than a life of slavery. For a strong mother to commit such a shocking and outrageous act, it can be concluded that Sethe's life was nothing short of sheer hell and torture. "

Tags:black, literature, slavery, Sethe, Hagar